As American Indian activist and scholar Ward Churchill says in his talks, recorded on his seminal 2-disc CD “In a Pig’s [please excuse the speciesist language] Eye: Reflections on the Police State, Repression, and Native America” (click HERE to learn more/buy from its publisher, AK Press):

…on that day…on the 12th of October, 1492, when a lost Italian seaman, flying the flag of Spain, washed up on a beach in the Carribean, half a world away from where he thought he was, and got himself known as “The Great Navigator.” Yeah.

You can actually listen to the amazing, inspiring, incredibly informative talk by Ward Churchill in several parts on YouTube HERE!

Ward’s passion and uncompromising militancy is an inspiration to nearly all who hear him speak and many who read his work.

Columbus was the real savage: he tortured native peoples to try to convert them to Christianity, he enslaved them, he murdered them, and he raped native women. So this country proudly celebrates a TORTURER, ENSLAVER, RAPIST, AND MURDERER of innocent, peaceful native peoples. What the FUCK is wrong with this culture??

Oh yeah–this culture is sociopathological. Look at the people we celebrate and elevate to hero and even near-deity status. It’s not just Columbus, not by a long shot. Take our your purse or wallet and look at your different denominations of cash (if you have any in this economy!); the 1-dollar-bill, George Washington: slave owner, American Indian butcher–a number of tribes helped the American colonists in their fight against the British in the Revolution, and then after the dust settled Washington ordered those tribes be destroyed for supposedly aiding the British! He owned slaves his entire life, and when the U.S. capital was in Philadelphia, he exploited a loophole to keep his slaves when normally they’d be freed after 6 months of living there. He also signed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which was one of the most horrendous laws ever put on the books for slaves; it gave southern slaveowners the right to capture and bring back south “their” slaves even if those individuals were able to escape to and settle in “free” northern states.

Now take out your 5-dollar-bill. That’s right, even “Honest Abe” has some answering to do for his legacy. He didn’t care about freeing slaves; his concern was with preserving the Union. “The Great Emancipator”–my great asshole! Granted, he did claim to be morally and politically opposed to slavery, and never owned slaves, BUT–and this is a big deal–he repeatedly said that he had *no intention or desire to free the slaves in southern states.* Lincoln said–and this is a direct quote: “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union.”

In the interest of brevity, we’ll skip ahead and finish up with that elusive 20-dollar-bill. Andrew Jackson is probably the worst of the lot. He owned a vast (over 1,000 acres eventually) plantation that was mostly cotton, worked by slaves; estimates vary, but in all likelihood he owned several hundred at some point in his life. He also initiated the cultural and physical genocide of American Indians by displacing them from their native lands (think Trail of Tears), stealing literally tens of millions of acres from them, forcing them ever westward to make way for white settlers.

These are the motherfuckers we CELEBRATE? This is truly equivalent to Germany having a “Hitler Day” which is a national holiday where we’re all supposed to laud him as the “Great Conquerer” or something, with statues of him erected all over the country. This country is INSANE. Because it’s a part of the dominant culture, industrial civilization, which is killing the planet and wiping out vast, unfathomable numbers of nonhuman species and human indigenous cultures. It must be stopped.

And Columbus Day is a symbol of that insanity, that sociopathology. So join me in screaming from the rooftops, FUCK COLUMBUS DAY!!!!!

“Fuck Columbus & All Other Cannibals!” This kid gets it–why can’t the rest of Amerika?

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11 thoughts on “FUCK Columbus Day!”

We must speak on your callous interpretation of Abraham Lincoln’s legacy! The long quote you provided was only one part of Lincoln’s response to an editorial that urged complete abolition. Lincoln also writes, “I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.” He makes a distinction between what his duties are to the country as President and his own personal beliefs on slavery. As President, his priority was to save the Union at all costs. Everything, even abolishing an institution he loathed, came second to that objective.

Yes, Columbus was brutal to the Indians. But let us not forget that the Indians were brutal to each other(QED, the Aztecs). Unfortunately, on every continent, and people of many races, the strong have always exploited the week. Let us all work for a better tomorrow, instead of cursing the people of the past.

Demonstrating the (hidden!) atrocities committed in the past, and showing how they are analogous to the atrocities of today, is a great way to raise awareness and try to change those things.

Do you know what the difference is between inter-tribal warfare and what the Europeans did? I’ll give you a hint. It involves the word “GENOCIDE.” Your comment is deeply insulting to indigenous peoples and specifically Native Americans.

Destroying the native population? That’s old news. Does anyone actually think about Columbus Day any more than they think about Labor Day? Sheep are too stupid to think about the deeper meaning of anything. They just enjoy the day off from work. No one actually idolizes Columbus or anything.

Practically speaking, what are we going to do about it now anyway? I’m surprised you spent all that time on history and didn’t bother to relate it to a more current issue: immigration. What gives white people the right to keep brown people out of a country they originally stole from other brown people? (Then again, what gives white people the right to militarily invade countries in the Middle East that are full of brown people?)

Self-righteous white people and their technology are a plague on the Earth.

Children are taught that Columbus was a great explorer and “discovered” America. A *NATIONAL HOLIDAY* is named after him. There are statues of him across the country. Native Americans are DEEPLY offended by all of this. So I think this is certainly still an issue, and needs attention brought to it.

“Self-righteous white people and their technology are a plague on the Earth.”
You’re goddamn right about that! =)